The present invention relates to a portable type geographical data collecting device using GPS. In particular, the invention relates to a geographical data collecting device, by which it is possible to acquire an image data of a place to be measured, to plot a point to be measured in the image, to perform a measurement or the like while visually confirming the point to be measured, and to collect a result of the measurement together with the image data.
In recent years, a global positioning system (GPS) has been widely propagated, and a present position can be acquired by a GPS device in easy manner and with high accuracy, and the present position can be displayed in a map information.
A simple and convenient geographical data collecting device is desired, by which it is possible to measure easily a position of an object to be measured, to acquire an image data of a measuring point or of the object to be measured, and to move easily, when it is necessary to collect subordinate information in addition to a general map information, for instance, when information such as a position of a manhole on a road or a position of a telephone pole are necessary, or when it is necessary to acquire information such as a position and a size of a tree, conditions of a thicket or a bush in a survey on forest or the like, or when it is necessary to acquire information such as a position and a condition of cracking in the ground, or a position and a range, etc. of landslide in a disaster.
In order to cope with such demands, a portable type geographical data collecting device is proposed in the patent publication JP-A-2007-248156.
The geographical data collecting device comprises a GPS device, an image pickup unit, a laser distance measuring unit, a tilt sensor and an azimuth sensor. Using the present position of the geographical data collecting device as acquired by the GPS device as reference, the geographical data collecting device can acquire the position information and the image data of the object to be measured.
By the geographical data collecting device as disclosed in JP-A-2007-248156, the position information relating to the object to be measured and the image data of the surrounding including the object to be measured can be acquired. Then, a plurality of images can be synthesized according to the position data of the image, and an image of wide range, i.e. a measurement range as anticipated, can be obtained.
However, in the geographical data collecting device as described above, images are taken for each measuring operation and the image data must be recorded for each measuring operation. As a result, considerable time is required for recording each measuring operation. This leads to the increase of data amount and to make post-treatment of data more complicated, and further, more time is required.
Further, when the geographical data are to be collected for a range as anticipated, and if a multiple of data must be collected on the object to be measured and on the point to be measured, it is often necessary to perform the operation as quickly as possible. Also, it is often necessary to rely on memorizing ability of the measuring operator as to at which point has been measured. In this respect, the measuring points may often be duplicated, or some of the measuring points may be omitted.